Anne

Anne
Written and Directed by Joss Whedon

Original Airdate: September 29, 1998

Plot: Season Three Premiere Posing as Anne, Buffy works at a coffee shop in L.A., where she finds a form of evil is preying on the transinet population of the city. Meanwhile, back in Sunnydale, Giles continues his search for the missing Slayer and the rest of the Scooby gang tries to take up the slack fighing vampires.

Review

Warning: If reading SPOILERS will make you feel like you've aged a hundred years while only a few moments have passed by, please consider turning back now. There are major SPOILERS just ahead for the season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Anne."

In short: Some strong moments.

To say I was looking forward to this episode of Buffy is a bit of an understatement. I've been pretty much ready for new episodes of Buffy to start since late August, which is usually the time of year that new episode withdrawal hits pretty hard. OK, yes, the WB helped a bit by giving us the repeats of season one, which I hadn't seen, to help me get by, but let's face it. I wanted to know just where the storyline that Joss so effectively told in Becoming would go from here.

So, I will say that last night I was a bit anxious, excited, and ready to be blown away by "Anne." I turned off the phone, put the tape in the VCR, turned up the sound, and got ready for an hour of pure magic....

And, for the most part, it was pretty darn good. It's not great, but it's good.

In many ways it reminded me of When She Was Bad last year, which on first viewing came off as pretty good, but not a classic. However, when I saw the entire season in retrospect, When She Was Bad got a lot more layered, a lot more interesting, and a lot more significant. Will it happen with "Anne?" I certainly hope so, because there was a lot of great stuff here.

Because just like When She Was Bad, Anne was very much a character driven episode. Yes, there was some action and an ugly monster plotline (which I'll comment on later) but the overall emphasis was on giving each character a moment or two to shine and showing just how much things have changed or not changed in the three months we've been away from them.

The biggest character development goes, of course to Buffy. At first, it was hard to see what Joss was trying to do her--whether he was trying to make her unlikeable. Indeed, the first few scenes of her seemed completely off kilter until I realized halfway through what Joss was trying to do. The scene with Angel in the beginning reminded us that in Buffy's eyes Angel is dead and gone. So, the rest of the episode effectively put her through the five stages of grief. We had denial, which really started last year on the Becoming when she left Sunnydale but we see continuing here--by her taking on the new name of Anne and trying to avoid any connections to her past. Next, we've got depression, which sets in as she sees Lilli and her new boyfriend looking happy and loving. Next up, we've got bargaining. I saw this mainly highlighted by her discussions with Lilli about looking for her boyfriend and using her powers to help out. At this point, it's not motivated out of Buffy's usual wanting to help those out who are oppressed or fight evil nasty monsters, but it comes more out of the idea that if I help her, she'll go away. In the pits of hell (or wherever they ended up), Buffy finally reaches anger, beating the (no pun intended here) hell out of the minions and freeing the fellow runaways. Finally, we've got acceptance as she realizes that she can't run away from the pain, but has embraced it and realizes she has to go home and move on.

The biggest thing that blew me away was that Sarah Michelle Gellar is able to convey all this by showing, not telling. Her performances was subtle and understated, exactly as it should have been. Indeed, her progress through grief was far more effective than that of another actor last week that won an Emmy for his performance in the best comedy show. Ms. Gellar once again shows why she is the perfect choice for Buffy and why the Emmy committee really needs to be ashamed for not at least nominating her for her great work.

Of course, the problem with this plotline was that it grew out of one of the lamer excuses for a monster plot I've seen in quite a while. I think we really saw just how vital it is to have Giles and the Scooby gang around because it gives the monster of the week plots a bit more edge and spice. For one thing, we'd at least have Giles explaining what this monster was. Instead, we get some inferences, but not much more. Is he some kidn of devil? Was Buffy in hell at the end? They need workers, but for what purpose? Is there some greater evil being served? There's are all vital questions I want answered. Was everyone at the mission in on this plot?

Questions without any good answers. Were they cut for time? It's not like Joss to not follow through on questions like these. In fact, if anything his plots are usually elevated to the next level precisely because he does think these questions through and most of the time expands on them.

So, to say I was disappointed with the monster plot is a bit of an understatement.

But, in some ways, this episode reminded me of early season two when you had an OK monster plot coupled with a superb B plot. And that's what happened. I've got to admit that at times, I was far more interested in the events going on in Sunnydale than I was with the events in the city with Buffy.

I loved the opening with the Scooby gang trying to slay the vampires. One of the funnier sequences I've seen, especially with Oz throwing the stake to try and get the vampire. These scenes set the tone for this plot and ran throughout in a wonderful fashion.

Seeing Giles persistance in trying to find Buffy was a nice touch as well. He must literally have spent thousands of dollars trying to track her down. It's nice to see him in such a father role to Buffy. And his scene with Joyce was probably the best scene of the episode. Her line that she didn't blame Buffy but Giles was a real sock in the gut. But it came out of such an intereting place and seemed really in character enough for Joyce that it shouldn't have been that unexpected. I think a large portion of that may have been guilt on her part because she realizes how alienated from Buffy she really is--to the point that the school librarian is chasing leads across the country while all she can do is sit at home and hope.

Like I said, this one was all character development and it all worked well. You throw out the slaves in hell plotline or strengthen it up a bit and you've got an all around great episode.

Well, that's about it for now, I suppose. Except for a few small items.

--It would have been very easy to deal with all the issues that Becoming brought up in one packed to the seams episode. However, I like the fact that Joss is willing to watch it playout over several episodes. It gives the real feeling of consequences to every action. And it makes me that much more anxious for the next episode...

--New theme song--not sure yet. I'm sure it will grow on me.

--Xander and Cordy. Not sure where this conflict came from really. It did lead to some funny moments and some nice character, but I find it hard to believe they didn't write or talk all summer. Maybe a few lines of dialogue explaining this would have helped...

--OK, so the portal to hell magically sealed up after they all escaped? Why?

--Will we see these monsters agains?

--If it was hell, don't you think it would have bee interesting for Buffy to have seen Angel there? It might have made her decision to leave a bit more interesting...

--No previews? Hello? How many more Dawson's Creek previews can we stand?

Well, that just about wraps it up for now. All in all, a good premiere. Not as strong as I'd hoped, but overall an enjoyable hour. The emphasis is character development and, as usual, Joss succeeds in spades...

My rating: 7.5 (out of 10.0)
For those of you who want to know, that's exactly what I gave WSWB last year and it eventually rose to an 8.5 So it may go up from here....

Next up: Buffy's homecoming party is invaded by zombies.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Buffy, the Vampire Slayer!"

--Ugly dead guy & Buffy